Garage Band Girl

I wished I were cool. I wished I were beautiful. I was just Maeve Curran, a freak and a teenage weirdo.Maeve Curran, 14, is a dreamer. She wants to become a professional singer—a dream her mentor is confident she has the talent to grasp. There is another dream she worries may be out of her reach: capturing the heart of her band’s cute and kind guitarist, Shane Seaver.You see, Shane is 17 and already has a girlfriend. Maeve’s mother has made it clear that Shane is too old to be anything more than a bandmate to Maeve, who has never had a boyfriend. Further, Maeve must overcome a crisis of confidence born from her history of being bullied. She feels socially awkward and insecure about her body. Still, the more she spends time with Shane, the stronger her feelings become—and the more Shane suspects that every love song Maeve sings is meant for him.Should she somehow win Shane’s heart, Maeve’s protective mother could force her to break up with both Shane and her band, smashing two dreams at once. Her often-battered heart is on the line like never before. Will Maeve solve her dilemma, or will her first chance at love end on a bad note?This coming-of-age story would be a good choice for younger teens wanting to graduate from middle-grade literature to something with more mature themes.